About the author

Hi, I'm Sophia, a fiery redhead in the wondrous world of Amsterdam. I find my joy in singing, good food, cocktails, cute hidden places in our city and talking to crazy, inspiring and creative people.

Sometimes you pass a store window that immediately draws your attention. Walking through the Haarlemmerdijk, I noticed such a window: it had a poem written all over it in white, handwritten letters, and there were flowers in little coloured bottles on the floor. I just had to take a look inside, and what I found was a concept store I have to tell you about.

Sukha – a lifestyle warehouse with a heart

The owner and founder of this lifestyle store is Irene Mertens. She had a vision of a lifestyle warehouse with a heart, and in February 2011, this vision became reality. The name of the store, “Sukha” literally means ‘joy of life’ in Sanskrit, the language spoken by Buddhist monks from India and Nepal.

As you can tell by the name, the store is all about life-joy and making life joyful. That’s why Sukha is not only a store, it’s a place where you’re more than welcome to just relax and meet other people. Have a chat, imagine yourself laying back in the thick knitted pillows made by one of the designers working for Sukha, or swinging in the birdcage chair. Read the poems written on the walls and learn some life lessons over some tea, drink it out of pottery cups in all shades of blue. Or participate in workshops and trips –most of them for free-, organized by Sukha.

If all of this is a little too much for you, Sukha also offers great products like clothes, furniture, tableware and home-made jewellery. The products sold in the store are either handmade, vintage, organic, or beautiful one of a kind pieces found on little markets in countries like India, Morocco and Peru. But Sukha also supports promising brands and their own designers. Every single thing in the store is made with passion and heart, and attention for the working conditions of the craftsmen. You know you’re buying something ‘honest’, and the quality and exclusiveness will make you greedy. Enough reasons to go there and have a look I think!